At Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, two black bears were among many wild animals to have their photos snapped by a motion-triggered camera when they stopped to drink at an old cattle well.

Credit: USFWS

Wild Angles: News From the National Wildlife Refuge System

News for October 2010

Wild Angles is a reliable source of news about environmental issues, initiatives and events in the National Wildlife Refuge System, the world’s premier system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America’s fish, wildlife and plants.

Caught Drinking at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge
Keeping a low profile is tough at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. Why, you can hardly drink a drop without someone’s noticing. That’s particularly true if you’re a wildlife creature and your drinking source is any of 20 former cattle wells now rigged with motion-sensor cameras.

Mapping Kenai's Soundscape Why does Tim Mullet plan to collect moose poop for a two-year study of noise levels on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska? Because bagging moose pellets is safer and easier than taking blood samples from wild horned animals weighing half a ton and up.

Best Places to See Migrating Birds
Three national wildlife refuges are among eight sites acclaimed by the National Wildlife Federation as the best spots to see fall migrating birds: Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri, Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Texas and Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin.

An Autumn Earful
It’s fall mating season at Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma, and there’s no mistaking the sound. Bull elk bent on attracting female elk to their harem and scaring off competitors throw back their heads and bugle. That is, they emit long, eerie, high-pitched calls.

Pitch In — and Plug In Free
Want to learn to drive a tractor, map invasive plants with a GPS unit or greet refuge visitors? Almost 40 national wildlife refuges offer volunteer opportunities to people willing to live on the refuge for a month or more. In return, resident volunteers often receive free housing or parking for their recreational vehicles plus ample time for birdwatching, hiking and other outdoor pursuits.

Refuges Mark 75 Years
In 1935 land prices were low, the need for conservation apparent, and the nation was laboring to recover from the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. This helps explain why it was a banner year for the establishment of national wildlife refuges. Twenty-seven refuges, most of them in the country’s midsection, mark their 75th anniversaries in 2010.